The invention relates to an apparatus for casing inner books into book cases by gluing the outer end papers of an inner book to the inner surfaces of the covers of a book case. The apparatus includes a conveyor, which at cyclical intervals feeds successive inner books with the spine directed upwards in a vertical plane of motion to a cyclically fed book cases, which are held in position in the plane of motion of each of the inner book, and includes means for moving the covers up against the inner book and joining the end papers and book covers.
From DE-OS 1 536 505, for example, an insetting machine is known, comprising a revolving conveyor having chains, which lie in parallel vertical planes and are guided around deflection chain wheels. That apparatus also includes a plurality of horizontally aligned saddle plates spaced uniformly apart from one another and coupled to the chains. For assembling respective inner books and book cases, in a so-called casing process, the inner books are fed by a conveyor with their front cut resting on a web and in the process are pushed onto a divider element before being taken over astride the saddle plates as a result of the saddle plates travelling through the divider element.
For casing the inner books with correct registration with the book case, reciprocally operating contact pressure elements movable upwards in synchronism with the conveyor are provided, which are applied onto the book spine and/or onto the spine of the book case and movable in closed, loop-shaped paths of motion from a starting position lying against the book, upwards as well as down along a path separate from the path of motion of the book and back into the starting position.
The books, carried astride the saddle plates and moving down along the vertical path of motion, are delivered in a book delivery apparatus, in which the books are supported against a stop rail having a through-slot for the saddle plates and are deposited onto a conveyor by a reciprocating transfer plate.
The vertically oriented saddle plate conveyor used in the known insetting machines and also known as a paternoster is of a heavy, bulky design owing to the plurality of saddle plates on parallel chain systems with their deflection chain wheels. Insetting machines and saddle plate conveyors, viewed as a whole, entail a high design and manufacturing outlay. When the inner books are pushed onto the divider element there is a risk of individual signatures or sheets being upset, which leads to malfunctions. Furthermore, the still fresh, particularly bulky inner books may be torn when they are taken over by the saddle plates moving upwards at a high clock frequency. In the case of thin inner books, it is impossible to rule out smearing of the saddle plates or deforming of the inner book spines. Finally, inner books having specially designed printed sheets, which pop up upon opening, do not permit a central take-over by saddle plates.
The object of the invention is to provide a machine of the type described for casing inner books into book cases by gluing the outer end papers of an inner book to the inner surfaces of the covers of a book case, which machine in comparison to the described prior art is to be of a compact design. Furthermore, the machine is to entail a lower constructional outlay, be less expensive to manufacture while maintaining the same quality of manufacture of the books and enable shortening of the set-up time.
This object is achieved by the invention in a simple and economical manner by means of a feeding conveyor, which feeds the inner book with the spine directed upwards to a lower receiving point and has a device for spreading apart the outer end papers of the inner book, and by means of a gripper, which grasps the inner book between the spread-apart outer end papers and conveys it from the lower receiving point to an upper joining point.
It is obvious that an inner book gripper which is displaceable along a relatively short, rectilinear, vertical path of motion between two end positions as a means of conveying the inner books, instead of a saddle plate conveyor operating on the paternoster principle and having devices for centrally dividing the inner books for take-over by the saddle plates, entails a far lower constructional outlay. Starting from the constant groove edge of the inner books, the inner book gripper travels always with a constant stroke from the lower receiving point into the upper joining point, which guarantees a taut casing of the inner books into the book case. By virtue of the centred positioning of the inner book in the gripper combined with the centreo-riented transport of the book case, the book is always precisely aligned with the book case. The automatic adjustment to book and/or inner book thickness by means of pneumatic clamping helps to shorten the set-up time. The insetting machine may be used to case in all relevant products, and indeed even products which do not allow central dividing.
In DE-OS 195 40 213 having the same assignee as the present application an insetting machine without use of a known fixed tray conveyor with saddle plates is described. In this machine, inner books with their spine directed upwards are taken over by a transport device by means of adhesive application rollers which, by rolling along the inner book, apply an adhesive film onto the surface of the end papers and feed the inner book to an awaiting book case. On the way up, the inner book is grasped in the groove region by tips of lifting pincers, transported further in a vertical plane and assembled in the spine with a book case held in position. Book case and inner book then move on into the effective range of contact pressure rollers having recesses for the book to pass through. The book is held clamped by the stationary contact pressure rollers and lifted by a vertical motion of the contact pressure rollers, wherein the book covers for the return stroke of the lifting pincers are supported against rods without material contact. By virtue of a rotational motion of the contact pressure rollers effected simultaneously with the return stroke, the contact pressure rollers transport the book into a top end position and rub the end papers against the book covers.